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Elayne is described as exceedingly beautiful, with blue eyes like sapphires and red-gold, curly hair. With a smooth-skinned, perfectly oval face, Elayne can charm many with her pretty, dimpled smile with full red lips. She stands around one span, six inches tall with long supple limbs.

While customary for the Daughter-Heir of Andor to receive training at the White Tower,[2] Elayne is the only member of House Trakand in memory and the first to sit on the Lion Throne to be born with channeling abilities high enough to become full Aes Sedai.[3]

Taringail Damodred was married twice: first to Tigraine Mantear, with whom he fathered Galad Damodred, and then to Morgase Trakand who bore Gawyn and Elayne. Although Galad is half brother both to Rand and to Gawyn and Elayne, Rand is only very distantly related to Elayne by their common ancestor.

Elayne's first appearance is when Rand al'Thor falls into the Royal Garden[4] and makes acquaintances with Elayne, her brother Gawyn Trakand, her half-brother Galad, and Queen Morgase herself.[5] Elayne falls in love with Rand at first sight. She does not follow Rand both due to her royal duties and, as a daughter of House Trakand, she is to train at the White Tower.

Not long after her encounter with Rand, Elayne leaves Caemlyn with Gawyn and Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan for Tar Valon.[6] At the Tower, she becomes close friends with two who know Rand quite well: his former childhood sweetheart Egwene al'Vere and his village's Wisdom, Nynaeve al'Meara. She also gets to know Min Farshaw, a young woman who had met Rand and is in the Tower for "safekeeping."[7]

When she overhears Liandrin speaking of the need for Egwene and Nynaeve to leave the Tower to help Rand,[8] Elayne elects to travel through the Ways with Egwene, Nynaeve, and Min to Falme.[9] It turns out to be a trap set by the Black Ajah. Egwene is collared by Seanchan as a damane, but Elayne and Nynaeve escape capture[10] and, with Min, devise a plan to rescue their friend. They free Egwene, but are separated by the battle that ensues in which the Horn of Valere is blown and Rand fights Ishamael across the sky, emerging victorious.[11]

Elayne returns to the Tar Valon with Egwene, Nynaeve, Hurin and Mat, led by Verin Sedai.[12] In the Tower, the three girls training to be Aes Sedai face discipline as though they were runaways rather than victims of a Black Ajah plot in order to keep quiet the reality of the Black Ajah.[13] Privately, the AmyrlinSiuan Sanche acknowledges their situation, allowing Egwene and Elayne to be raised from Novice to Accepted. (Nynaeve was already Accepted.)

Siuan trusts these girls not to be darkfriends and assigns Egwene and Nynaeve the task of hunting Black Ajah. Elayne is excluded due to her political importance in Tower relations with Andor,[14] but Nynaeve and Egwene do not hesitate to bring her into their confidence.[15] The hunt sends the girls to Tear and although Egwene and Nynaeve assure Elayne that she is not required to join them, Elayne is discontent to stay in the Tower (still suffering her penance) while her friends are out having adventures.[16] She sends a letter to her mother Morgase with Mat to assure her of Elayne's well-being,[17] and the girls set off.

The girls are captured twice, once on the way to Tear on the order of three Fades then rescued by Aiel,[18] then again in Tear by the very women they are hunting.[19] They are rescued by Mat and Juilin Sandar.[20]

During Elayne and the other two girls' imprisonment and rescue, Rand draws Callandor from the Heart of Stone and proclaims himself the Dragon Reborn. In the aftermath of that declaration in the Stone of Tear, Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve masquerade as full Aes Sedai to keep the Tairens under control. Moiraine knows but does not give them away.[21] Elayne finally takes the opportunity while in Tear with Rand to express her feelings for him. Egwene shares that she no longer sees a future with Rand and feels no romantic connection to him, and the two girls discuss bringing this revelation to Rand.[22] On the heels of Egwene's speech to Rand dissuading him of her interest, Elayne is to declare hers, though Elayne's part of the conversation does not go quite according to plan.[23]

Elayne Trakand.

Elayne and Rand spend precious moments together in Tear, Elayne sharing her knowledge of statecraft and the two stealing kisses.[1] Unfortunately, their time is limited - soon Rand and Egwene go to Rhuidean, and Elayne and Nynaeve to Tarabon. Before she leaves, Elayne has two letters delivered to Rand each with conflicting declarations of her feelings for him.[24]

Elayne and Nynaeve travel by way of a Sea Folk ship, reputedly the fastest ships available, and Elayne quickly discover how: Sea Folk Windfinders can channel.[25] Elayne promises to keep this secret, as the Sea Folk fear Aes Sedai meddling. (However, Elayne lets slip to Egwene while in Tel'aran'rhiod that Jorin can channel.)[26]Juilin Sandar and Thom Merrilin are sent by Lan and Rand to look after the two. After a time, Elayne recognizes Thom from dusty childhood memories as her mother's former lover.[18] She comes to see Thom as a surrogate father, a role he gladly accepts.
In Tarabon they are instrumental in routing the Black Ajah and returning the PanarchAmathera to her office.[27]

Nynaeve and Elayne leave for Tar Valon with Thom and Juilin to deliver the Seal to the Tower.[28]
They are .

Elayne Trakand by Ariel Burgess, Official Wheel of Time Artist

again held captive and in the process get an introduction to forkroot, a drug that renders them unconscious and, when they come to, unable to access the Source, for a time.[29] Juilin and Thom come to their rescue. The party dons disguises and aliases as they travel across Amadicia, since they are obviously being sought by the White Tower (since Morgase is frantic about her daughter's disappearance) as well as Black Ajah, darkfriends, and Moghedien. They no longer see the Tower as a destination any more desirable than capture by darkfriends, suspicious that they are one and the same.[30] They decide to seek out Salidar where the Rebel Aes Sedai are gathering.

After meeting Galad in Sienda and refusing to accompany him to Caemlyn, yet another reason to hide from recognition, the group takes cover as a part of Valan Luca's Traveling Show circus.[31] Elayne, under the alias Morelin, performs on the high wire.[32] She and Nynaeve encounter a Seanchan woman named Cerandin among the animal trainers, who gives the women an a'dam.[33] Elayne is able to figure out how the ter'angreal works and believes she may be able to make more.[34]

Elayne and Nynaeve have been using a twisted stone ringter'angreal to enter Tel'aran'rhiod where they communicate with Egwene and inexpertly try to gain information on the Black Ajah and the Forsaken. They meet Birgitte Silverbow, one of the Heroes of the Horn, who goes against rules of non-interference to help Nynaeve and Elayne. Birgitte acts in defense of Nynaeve's life during an encounter with Moghedien and the Forsaken rips the Hero from Tel'aran'rhiod and expels her into the waking world to die.[35] Elayne bonds the dying Birgitte as her Warder in order to save Birgitte's life,[36] and the famed archer has been a constant companion since.

This is an unusual event as the bonded Warder is a woman, and also because Elayne is only an Accepted and not full Aes Sedai. It should be noted that the Warder bond between the two women is not the same as the Bond between an Aes Sedai and a male Warder. For instance, their emotional states are tightly linked and cannot be shielded--possibly because both of them are women, something that has apparently never happened before.

She finally arrives in Salidar and is present when Egwene is raised as the brand new Amyrlin Seat. Elayne and Nynaeve are raised as Aes Sedai by Egwene's decree, despite the lack of the oval ring for the required Aes Sedai test and the lack of the Oath Rod by which to swear the Aes Sedai's Three Oaths. Elayne goes with Nynaeve, Aviendha and Mat Cauthon to Ebou Dar where they find the Bowl of the Winds. Due to her great strength in the One Power, she takes control of the Salidar embassy from Merilille Ceandevin, with which the other Aes Sedai fall in line. While in Ebou Dar she stumbles across the closely held secret by the White Tower of the Kin. She manages to finally find the Bowl with the help of Mat and Travels to the Kin's farm just before the Seanchan arrive and conquer Ebou Dar. She makes a bargain with the Sea Folk, for them to use the Bowl to change the endless summer back into the normal seasons. The bargain's terms do not favor the Aes Sedai and Egwene is not too pleased with the results.

While trying to unravel a gateway she made out of Ebou Dar, the Seanchan try to attack. She loses hold of the weave creating a massive explosion. The Seanchan seem to believe from this point on that the explosion was purposeful and are looking for an Aes Sedai weapon able to re-create it.

She then shepherds the large group of channelers of Aes Sedai, Kin and Windfinders, to Caemlyn. She also manages to secure a turtle-shaped angreal from the cache in Ebou Dar for for her personal use.
She begins investigating the ter'angreal in her possession in an attempt to work out their functions. One ter'angreal in particular leads to a whole night of memory loss.

On arrival back at Caemlyn she receives Dyelin Taravin's pledge to back her for the Lion Throne. One of the first things she does is tear down Rand's dragon banners, which infuriates him. She also sends away the Aiel and the Saldaean soldiers from Caemlyn which cause the crime rates to soar. She begins to employ mercenaries for her army and promotes Birgitte to Captain-General of the Queen's Guards.

Dyelin earns Elayne's trust when she is injured by the three rogues trying to attack Elayne. Elayne is poisoned with forkroot and is saved by Doilin Mellar (who is actually the darkfriend, Daved Hanlon), who she promotes as Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard. After becoming pregnant by Rand, she lets the rumor that Mellar is the father run rampant and even gives off signals in front of others to support it.
She later meets with the Borderlander Rulers and encourages them to move south through Andor promising not to raise an army against them.

She is confronted by the mercenary captains in her employ about being paid more gold due to a loss of men. She sends them away with no new agreement. She begins to find it very difficult to grasp the One Power now that she is pregnant. She has also started to become reckless due to Min's viewing of her giving birth to twins and believing that nothing can happen to her until then. She begins to teach Aviendha about ter'angreal and finds out that Aviendha may have the Talent for working out what they do. This discovery is short-lived however, as Aviendha is summoned back by the Wise Ones and required to leave Andor with them.

She hires a number of men to follow Mellar, who all end up dead. She finally hires Samwil Hark who is in prison after a career as a very successful cutpurse before finally being caught. He follows Mellar to a house on Full Moon Street, which is also occupied by Marillin Gemalphin and Falion Bhoda, Black Ajah sisters Elayne had been hunting for some time as well as Mili Skane, who is posing as the Lady Shiaine. She enters the house with Vandene, Careane and Sareitha. They are surprised by Asne Zeramene, Temaile Kinderode, Eldrith Jhondar and Chesmal Emry who are also staying there and are all shielded. Careane is revealed Black Ajah and the one who killed Ispan and Adeleas, and is killed by Vandene. Vandene and Sareitha are both killed by Chesmal Emry. Elayne is then captured and kidnapped by Mili Skane and the rest of the Black Ajah sisters.

Elayne Trakand by Todd Cameron Hamilton.

Birgitte gathers a huge strike force, and with the Windfinders help manage to defeat and capture the Black Ajah members.
She then learns of Arymilla's forces attacking the Far Madding Gate and orders an attack. Her forces plunge into the back of the opposing army and soon defeats it. Arymilla's army finally surrenders and Arymilla and the rest of the nobles who supported her are taken prisoner. Because of that action she obtains enough houses to secure the Throne of Andor.

The neutral High Seats ask for safe passage into Caemlyn and seek and audience with Elayne. At the meeting Luan Norwelyn wishes to form a temporary alliance to engage the Borderlands army. Elayne reveals that as an Aes Sedai, she gave them permission to travel through into Murandy to carry on seeking the Dragon Reborn. She also tells them about the Black Tower set-up and the unfortunate fact that she can't do much about its presence in Andor now. Luan and then Abelle Pendar declare their support for House Trakand. Pelivar Coelan, Arathelle Renshar and Aemlyn Carand all declare their support for House Trakand, but only for Dyelin. This gives Elayne the required number of High Seats now to obtain the Lion Throne.

She meets with Alise and Sumeko about the Kin, who when they retire from the White Tower will move to Caemlyn to live out the rest of their days. They will live in their residence for free in exchange for offering Healing and Traveling for the Crown of Andor when she needs it.

Elayne Trakand by John Seamas Gallagher

At one point, while Birgitte is away from the palace, Elayne uses the chance to disguise herself as one of the Forsaken and wring information out of the captured Black Ajah sisters. It goes well for a time, but when Dollin Mellar and two other Black Aes Sedai break out of their cells, they nearly kill Elayne while escaping. She is later confined to bed rest to allow her body to recover sufficiently enough to ensure the health of her unborn babies.

After Mat arrives in Caemlyn, Elayne is overjoyed with the plans for Dragons that he presents her, relieved that she may now have an effective weapon against any possible Seanchan attack. After the first one proves to be a success, Elayne enlists the employment of every bell-maker in Andor to manufacture the new weapons. Soon after, Elayne's mother, Morgase, arrives at the palace, revealing herself to be alive.

Elayne then meets with Faile and Perrin about their possible rebellion and their claim of Lordship of the Two Rivers. They are able to convince Elayne that it is in her best interest to allow them to be nobles of the Two Rivers. Elayne declares that Perrin will be the Steward of the Dragon for the Two Rivers so they will have an excuse for the political advantage they will have.
Elayne then makes her move to claim Cairhien's Sun Throne. She invites a number of Cairhienan nobles to Caemlyn and offers them estates in Andor in order to make connections between the two nations. Through further manipulation, she gains the support from these nobles, albeit only because it gives them the chance to steal the throne for themselves in future years.

She then Travels to Cairhien where she is greeted by Lorstrum and Bertome who escort her to the Royal Palace. As Elayne is about to sit down, Birgitte checks her chair and finds a poisoned pin hidden in the cushion, shaming Lorstrum. Elayne then declares to the nobles gathered that all available men will be conscripted into the army and that Cairhien's forces will move out to join the Dragon Reborn's army gathered at the Field of Merrilor.

During the gathering at the Field of Merrilor Caemlyn is invaded by Trolloc forces coming out of the Waygate. After a long struggle the Band of the Red Hand make its way to the Royal Palace where Caemlyn's remaining forces still hold. The defenders manage to escape the Shadowspawn and leave the city to the Shadow.

It is requested that this article or section be expanded with additional information. Please remove this notice after it has been expanded.
-"Surprising what you can dig out of books if you read long enough, isn't it?" - Rand al'Thor

During the night before the opening of the Conference at Merrilor, Elayne is finally informed that her capital city has been conquered and half destroyed by the Shadow's army. Facing the dramatic situation Elayne decided wisely to avoid any counter-attack, to save as much people as she can and to abandon the ruined city to the Trollocs.

Initially Elayne is not very convinced by Rand to sign the Dragon's Peace as it is the same of most of the rulers at the Field of Merrilor gathering. But after some prodding, the Queen of Andor and Cairhien signed the treaty with the assurance that also the Seanchan Empress would.
Elayne is given also the supreme command of the Armies of the Light in return for her support to the Peace.

It is requested that this article or section be expanded with additional information. Please remove this notice after it has been expanded.
-"Surprising what you can dig out of books if you read long enough, isn't it?" - Rand al'Thor

As supreme commander Elayne decides to split the forces of the Light to counteract the menaces in the four main fronts, giving the operative command in each of them to the remaining four Great Captains. So she gives Davram Bashere command of her forces in Andor. She gives Gareth Bryne command of the Aes Sedai forces in Kandor. To Agelmar Jagad the command in Shienar of the Borderlanders Army and finally to Rodel Ituralde the command of the forces that will support the Dragon in Shayol Ghul.

After some failed try, Elayne's forces are able to lure out from the ruins of Caemlyn the Trolloc's army and to attract the enemy to Braem Wood. Here they are able to take advantage from the thick of the wood to attack the Trollocs without too much loss. But after many skirmishes inside the wood Elayne's army is forced to retreat to the banks of the river Erinin, followed by the Shadowspawn's army. Then from there they are forced to retreat also to the banks of the Alguenya, following the suggestion of Captain Bashere. But after the crossing of the river, just few miles from Cairhien, they now have to face the Shadow on open field to avoid the loss of another great city.

Just few hours before facing the Trollocs that are following them from the north, Elayne's forces discover that another enemy army is approaching from the south. Realizing too late that they have been lured by treason in a very critical situation, they prepare to a desperate attempt to resist.

After giving the order to arrest Davram Bashere thinking that he is a Darkfriend, Elayne concentrates her forces against the northern Trolloc horde and leads them to victory, then she tries to unite what remain of them with the southern units, holding a second Trolloc horde at bay.

Desperate and unable to retreat without causing mass casualties, Elayne feels lost. Fortunately a contingent of Asha'man, led by Logain, appear. Linked with twelve men and fourteen women, Androl Genhald uses his Talent to open a massive Gateway to Dragonmount, spewing a river of molten lava on the Trolloc army.

Elayne and the other commanders of the Lights realize that all the four Great Captains have been compulsed in Tel'Aran'Rhiod by a Forsaken to put their forces in dire situations. They now need a new captain general who is protected from a similar danger and so Elayne, Egwene and Fortuona agree to choose Mat with his protective Foxhead medallion.

Mat decides to retreat all their remaining forces again to Merrilor, to rest and to wait there the approaching enemies, in a battlefield that he can study and use well. Mat changes his plans just at the start of the battle because he suspects the presence of traitors in his command post. This alarms and enrages Elayne that tries to reach him from her position, but she is involved in an attack from draghkar that are massacring the Light's soldiers with the use of their chant. She saves the situation weaving a great deafening sound, and after her hears are healed by a damane, Elayne enters Mat's command post to ask explanations.

Mat explains his suspects and so Elayne agrees with him to return to lead her forces near the Hawal Ford.

It is requested that this article or section be expanded with additional information. Please remove this notice after it has been expanded.
-"Surprising what you can dig out of books if you read long enough, isn't it?" - Rand al'Thor

Mellar and his group of mercenaries, disguised as refugees from the battle, ambush Elayne and Birgitte. They kill most of the guard. Mellar personally kills Birgitte. Having captured Elayne, they then try to demoralize her troops by hailing her death, using a corpse with hair similar to Elayne's slung over her saddle. Mellar is resistant against her weaves due to having stolen foxhead medallion. So she´s helpless as he tries to cut out her babes. She is saved by Birgitte, who upon her death is called back by the blowing of the Horn of Valere. After little chitchat with her, Elayne rallys her troops and fights again.

Birgitte tells Elayne that she knows she wanted the Horn of Valere and Olver in order to keep them "safe". Birgitte then tells Elayne that she has sent Olver away with the Horn and instructed him to "find someplace nobody would look, a place he could forget, and toss the Horn into it. Preferably the ocean.”. At first Elayne is annoyed but she realizes Birgitte did the right thing, and thanks her for taking that decision from her.

She is present when Rand is brought back to the Field of Merrilor for healing, but displays no grief when he dies. It is later revealed at his funeral pyre, that she, Aviendha and Min are aware that Rand is still alive and has left.

The art of understanding and creating ter'angreal was lost to the White Tower in the time after the Age of Legends. After studying extensively an a'dam, a damane leash, which she obtained during her stay in Valan Luca's menagerie, Elayne learned how to make ter'angreal. In her continent she was the first in a long time to be able to not only understand the workings of some ter'angreal, but to also be able to duplicate or create them.

Along with the a'dam Elayne was able to duplicate a number of ter'angreal that would allow access to Tel'aran'rhiod by examining existing ones recovered from the Black Ajah. She did the same with Mat's medallion even if the new ones were not fully functioning as the original.

By herself Elayne invented a new ter'angreal in the shape of a green stone disc, which permitted to a female channeler not strong enough to make herself invisible to be able to do so otherwise.

"Aviendha and Min were different. They were part of her. In a way, they were her, and she them."
—Elayne, Winter's Heart

Elayne is one of three women who love Rand al'Thor, along with Aviendha and Min. Elayne and Aviendha have a particularly strong friendship, and adopted each other as first-sisters in the Aiel fashion, and as such are able to sense each other to a degree. The three women are close friends and have agreed to share him, recently bonding him as their mutual Warder. Shortly thereafter, she and Rand spent some time together alone in Elayne's room, almost immediately demonstrating one of the downsides of the Warder bond and leading Birgitte, Min and Aviendha to get blinding drunk as soon as possible. According to Min's visions, Elayne is now carrying Rand's twin children, one of each sex, and uses that vision to put herself in harm's way under the belief that no harm can come to her or the babies until they are born, since what Min "views" inevitably comes to pass.

Elayne, Min and Aviendha were all able to feel that Rand was still alive after his supposed death and funeral.

Elayne could likely be a reference to the name Elaine, which was in truth the name of several different women in Arthurian legend (including the mother of Galahad by Lancelot). Most of these women had connections to royalty or nobility.